ing in a funny
little voice. Pretty soon Peter stopped crying and listened, and
this is what he heard:

"_Isn't any use to cry!
Not a bit! Not a bit!
Wipe your eyes and wipe 'em dry!
Use your wit! Use your wit!
Just remember that tomorrow
Never brings a single sorrow.
Yesterday has gone forever
And tomorrow gets here never.
Chase your worries all away;
Nothing's worse than just today._"

Peter smiled in spite of himself.

"That's right! That's right! Smile away, Peter Rabbit. Smile
away! Your troubles, Sir, are all today. And between you and me,
I don't believe they are so bad as you think they are. Now you
lie still just where you are, while I go see what can be done."

With that, off whisked Danny Meadow Mouse as spry as you please,
in spite of his lame leg, and in a few minutes Peter knew by
little twitches of the wire on his leg that Danny was doing
something at the other end. He was. Danny Meadow Mouse had set
out to gnaw that piece of stake all to splinters. So there he sat
and gnawed and gnawed and gnawed. Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun
climbed higher and higher in the sky, and Danny Meadow Mouse
grew hungry, but still he kept right on gnawing at that
bothersome stake.

[Illustration: _Danny Meadow Mouse had set out to gnaw that piece
of stake all to splinters_]

By and by, happening to look across the snow-covered Green
Meadows, he saw something that made his heart jump. It was Farmer
Brown's boy coming straight over toward the dear Old Briar-patch.

Danny didn't say a word to Peter Rabbit, but gnawed faster than
ever.

Farmer Brown's boy was almost there when Danny stopped gnawing.
There was only a tiny bit of the stake left now, and Danny
hurried to tell Peter Rabbit that there was nothing to stop him
now from going to his most secret retreat in the very heart of
the Old Briar-patch. While Peter slowly dragged his way along,
Danny trotted behind to see that the wire did not catch on the
bushes.

They had safely reached Peter Rabbit's secretest retreat when
Farmer Brown's boy came up to the edge of the dear Old Briar-patch.

"So this is where that rabbit that killed our peach tree lives!"
said he. "We'll try a few snares and put you out of mischief."

And for the rest of the afternoon Farmer Brown's boy was very
busy around the edge of the Old Briar-patch.

[Illustration]

XIX

Peter Rabbit and Danny Mead